CONSHOHOCKEN — Like countless rock ’n’ roll bands, the first Apple computer and budding entrepreneur Neal Bailey’s carbon fiber XTR sports car, some of the best things are built in garages.

More than 30 four-wheeled examples of that homegrown American ingenuity, ranging from sleek fiberglass torpedoes to more elemental wooden models, rolled out Thursday to compete in the 62nd Conshohocken AMBUCS Soap Box Derby.

Clear blue skies and well-timed drills of gravity conspired to make the annual slice of Americana and qualifier for the 76th All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron July 27 an intense time for 33 kids and their families.

Following the announcer’s caution not to “brake too early” or “cross into other lanes,” the 8- to 18-year-olds positioned themselves one by one to meet their 9 a.m. scheduled flights down Fayette Street to the finish line.

Asphalt-pounding horsepower has no place here. Only gravity can rule the day.

Give a racer sufficient incline and he or she can become king or queen of the hill.

While Natalie went on to snag second place in Akron last year, Lauren finished none too shabbily here at home with second-place Conshy Soap Box Derby honors.

Lauren also took ninth place in Akron in 2009 in a car not unlike the one that carried her to victory on Thursday.

“When I won ninth place in Akron, my car looked like this so I wanted to carry out the pink color with my next car,” she said Thursday.

The black-and-white accent of a bolting dalmatian added just the right snazzy touch.

Lauren’s brother, 10-year-old Matt, is also making a name for himself on the rally and local racing circuit.

“We have more than a thousand trophies from all the races at home,” he said.

Keeping the family on a winning roll is “Pop Pop” Dominick Manderacchi, who built the first derby car from scratch for his son Michael back in 1976.

“We’ve been racing in the Conshy derby ever since,” he said.

Unlike the cars of yesteryear, the aerodynamic wheels now come in kits that are priced around $400.

While his own cars were light years ahead of first Soap Box Derby winner Walt Cherry’s crude plywood Blue Comet special, Jeff Christman said that the most fun he remembered from his Derby days — Norristown division — was building a soap box from the ground up with his dad in the late ’60s.

“Every kid was supposed to build his own car and you had to stay within the parameters they gave you, with a certain size and weight,” Christman said. “But every car was unique in its own way.”

Christman’s brother, Kevin, rocketed to a triumph at the Norristown Soap Box Derby in 1967 and went on to the nationals.

On Thursday Jeff and his brother Paul provided pit crew support for Paul’s son, Eric, as he navigated a derby heirloom down Fayette Street.

The royal blue Carpenters Local 1595 stock car was being put into service for the 15th year, Christman explained.

“It’s been handed down from member to member,” he said.

A dab of lube and a cursory inspection were all the car needed these days to pull its own weight come Derby Day, added Christman, who mounted his 1969 derby model on a wall in his home to provide some unique and sentimental décor.

“Winning this thing comes down to driver ability, because everybody has the same car,” he allowed. “As a matter of fact, you switch wheels between heats, so you can’t have faster wheels than the next guy because you’ll be racing on his wheels. Whoever gets down the lowest and goes the straightest is going to win. And don’t hit the hay bales at the end.”

While soap box derbies may seem like something from a bygone innocent age — like Aunt Bea’s prize-winning boysenberry pie and Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights — they’re “a good family day,” Jeff Christman said.

“Nobody gets hurt and everybody has a good time,” he said. “A lot of memories go with racing. That’s what I was telling my nephew this morning: he’ll remember this for the rest of his life.”